Holtspur Bank

The chalk bank rises up from the woodland floor like something from a children's book - exposed white cliffs in the middle of Buckinghamshire. Holtspur Bank is a proper geological moment, the kind of thing that makes you stop mid-walk and actually look at what's beneath your feet.

It's not a major attraction in the sense that you won't find a visitor centre or a gift shop. What you get instead is the bank itself, a short scramble where the chalk face has been eroded away, leaving pale walls about thirty feet high. Walk through Holtspur Woods and you'll spot it without too much difficulty from Beaconsfield.

Walkers get the most from this - it's a good reason to pause during a longer ramble through the local woodland, and the pale rock against green vegetation makes for decent photographs. Kids aged seven or eight upwards will find the scramble fun; younger children need supervision on the loose chalk. Anyone with an interest in geology will find it genuinely worth a look, even if you're only there for ten minutes.

The spot works well if you're basing yourself at Lights Camera Glamping nearby. You're not going to spend a whole day here, but it breaks up a woodland walk nicely and reminds you that Buckinghamshire has some actual landscape drama buried beneath the commuter towns. Free, naturally. No facilities, so bring water if you're planning a proper walk.